So…this one is going to be a bit of a mess this week - COVID has made the NBA a bit of a disaster, with teams playing barely recognizable lineups (last night, DJ Wilson took the floor for the Raptors with a collection of former Michigan nemeses - Chris Boucher, Delano Banton, Juwan Morgan, Daniel Oturu, and Tremont Waters (also Yuta Watanabe and Svi Mykhaliuk) - they lost by 45, and I’m not sure anyone would have thought they’d play a minute for this franchise). So - basically all the Michigan alum G-Leaguers with the exception of Simpson, Teske, and Stauskas (not for want of trying with Stauskas - his signing was announced, then never occurred, I assume because he tested positive for COVID) are currently in the NBA. The G League has suspended play due to…not having any players…so we’ll omit that update this week. So, onto the (possibly meaningless?) update:
Isaiah Livers made his debut in the last 2 weeks. He missed 2 shots in his 5 minutes of action, collected a steal and a block, and committed a TO and a foul. He’s been on and off the active roster the past few days - last night he was active, but didn’t play. He was initially on the IR as “Out - Reconditioning”, which implies some sort of layover from his injury time.
Franz Wagner continued his very strong play. Over the past 2 weeks, he’s scored over 18 ppg, over 5.5 rebounds, and over 2 assists. Once again, the profile of his scoring has shifted - initially he was mostly scoring at the rim and from 3, then his three point shot faltered, but he became an effective two point shooter. Over the past 6 games he hasn’t been that effective from the floor (40% overall, 15% from 3, but has averaged 5.5 FT’s a game over his past 5 games, and missed 3 in total. Overall, it’s 109 points on 102 shots, which isn’t fantastic, but it isn’t bad, and he is carrying the water for a team that, racked by COVID losses (they recently started Franz, Brook Lopes, Chuma Okeke, Gary Harris, and something named Hassani Gravett) doesn’t have many other options.
Unfortunately, Ignas Brazdeikis has not been able to take advantage of the Magic’s Covid losses because…he has COVID. He played 1 game in the past 2 weeks. He scored 6 points - including 4 FTs - in 12 minutes.
Jordan Poole also has COVID, and hasn’t played since the last update.
In his first game since our last update, Mortiz Wagner had one of his better offensive performances - 19 points and 6 rebounds on 9 shots (3/4 from 3, 4/4 from the line) in 17 minutes. Then…he tested positive for COVID and hasn’t played since.
DJ Wilson made his season debut last night in the aforementioned bizarro lineup for the Raptors. While the team got demolished, DJ had a tidy 15/8 with 4 assists and 4 steals on 8 shots in 34 minutes for the woefully depleted Raptors.
Caris Levert is…healthy! He continues to play, and in his five games since our last check-in, he’s 23 ppg and 6.5 assists (to 1.8 turnovers), which is a pretty good run. He shot 45% from the floor in the stretch, and 34.5% from 3 - one of his better shooting runs of the season - and has also gotten to the line over 6 times per game. Overall this is his best offense in awhile when considering the relative efficiency and playmaking. Obviously, the current environment needs to be taken with something of a grain of salt, but he’s succeeding - something as we’ll see not all our alums are doing - so we’ll take it.
The unvaccinated Trey Burke has tested positive for COVID for a second time this season, and isn’t playing. He did appear in a few games prior to the test, and scored 24 points on 29 shots, but did drop 7 dimes in one game. Overall, he’s a non-rotation reserve, but he’ll play as long as he’s not sick in the current environment.
Tim Hardaway Jr…has COVID. He played 2 games since our update prior to the test, and scored 48 points on 38 shots, mixing one pretty rough day (20 points on 19 shots) with a great one (28 on 19). He played over 40 minutes in each game, demonstrated the Mavs lack of options here, but he has staging something of a comeback prior to his test. Hopefully he can continue that when returns.
Duncan Robinson is healthy, but it’s still not going well. He’s been able to scored 20+ points roughly every 3-4 games, but fails to crack double digits between those games. He’s scored 11 ppg in the 6 games since our last update, but that comprises 2 20+ nights, and 4 single digit nights. He shot 35% from the floor in this span, and 34% from 3, and his 3 point shooting is under 34% from the year on 285 attempts so far. Clearly, he’s not earning his salary, but normally that salary would make me say the Heat will be determined to play him though the struggles. However, while he’s floundered, the Heat have another out-of-nowhere players scorching the nets. Max Strus is up to 40%+ from 3 on the season (161 attempts - over 6 per game from him) and a 62% true shooting. While Robinson has struggled, Strus has scored 20 ppg on 14 shots per game, shooting 43% from 3. His minutes, right now, are higher than Robinson, and he’s taking (and certainly making) more shots. Obviously, we don’t know when rosters are going to return to any sort of normalcy, but it’s possible Strus has passed Robinson in the Heat’s rotation, and if not, he’s right on Duncan’s heels.
Derrick Walton made his season debut with the Pistons last night, and got 31 minutes as the starting PG. He failed to scored (missing 5 shots) but did drop 6 assists to 2 turnovers. This is sort of the pattern for him as an NBA player - he posts respectable if not good assist/to rates, but really struggles to get the ball in the basket.
Chaundee Brown played 21 minutes over 2 games for the Lakers, going 1/7 from the floor and grabbing 2 rebounds. Obviously that tiny sample doesn’t mean much, but the Lakers did terminate his two-way contract (I’m not sure how that works - a buyout?), and Brown spent about a week unaffiliated. However, provided he can pass the COVID test, Woj has reported that Brown will be signing a 10-day with the Hawks today.